Making a Difference - Community Food and Health
Making a Difference - Community Food and Health
Making a Difference - Community Food and Health
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• Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs) – joint commitment between <strong>Community</strong> Planning<br />
Partnerships/Local Authorities <strong>and</strong> the Scottish Government to deliver an agreed set of<br />
15 outcomes. A menu of 45 national indicators has been developed to track progress.<br />
Locally developed indicators can be used alongside national indicators.<br />
• Better <strong>Health</strong>, Better Care – an action plan setting out the Government's programme to<br />
help people sustain <strong>and</strong> improve their health, especially in disadvantaged communities.<br />
• Meeting the Shared Challenge Programme – to help public bodies <strong>and</strong> the community<br />
<strong>and</strong> voluntary sector to work together on strategies <strong>and</strong> activities that support<br />
communities to address health issues.<br />
• Skills for Scotl<strong>and</strong> – highlighting the value <strong>and</strong> wider benefits that learning can bring to<br />
individuals, society, communities <strong>and</strong> the economy.<br />
How do these make a difference locally<br />
The West Lothian <strong>Food</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Health</strong> Steering Group, supported by West Lothian<br />
<strong>Community</strong> <strong>Health</strong>care Partnership <strong>and</strong> West Lothian <strong>Health</strong> Improvement Fund, works<br />
with a range of partners to improve the nutritional status of the local population, particularly<br />
focusing on health inequalities.<br />
A local <strong>Food</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Health</strong> Action Plan was developed in response to polices outlined above,<br />
<strong>and</strong> priorities identified locally. The action plan particularly focuses on areas of deprivation<br />
<strong>and</strong> addressing health inequalities. One of its key objectives is to improve skills,<br />
confidence <strong>and</strong> knowledge in the preparation of healthier food. That is where the Get<br />
Cooking project comes in. Participants in the project not only gained these food-related<br />
skils through their involvement but also acquired wider abilities such as life skills,<br />
numeracy <strong>and</strong> literacy, <strong>and</strong> employment opportunities. A ‘catering for health’ module has<br />
also been developed to help local businesses look at healthier ways of catering which<br />
supports their efforts in achieving national awards such as the healthyliving award.<br />
Much of the workshop discussion focused on what ‘mainstreaming’ has meant to the<br />
project<br />
+ provided security for the project;<br />
given Get Cooking the ability to plan ahead;<br />
the opportunity to create longer term impact.<br />
_<br />
less money - our resources are restricted to an annual budget;<br />
tighter criteria of who Get Cooking can work with;<br />
additional work in developing systems <strong>and</strong> paper work to bring project in line with<br />
council procedures <strong>and</strong> policies.<br />
The session was completed with a short exercise getting participants to work in the style of<br />
‘speed dating’. In two circles (one circle within the other), participants had the opportunity<br />
to present a problem to their opposite in the circle <strong>and</strong> receive advice or a solution back.